One victim’s joy at being reunited with her stolen RV turned to shock when police fished the thief out of the local jail to show them how to start the RV.
Olive Teague, 26, was devastated when her 1996 Ford F350 camper was stolen from a Seattle street in December, along with all the equipment for the mermaid school she runs.
Nearly four months later she was invited to collect it from Aberdeen Police after officers arrested the man they suspected of stealing it.
But with the ignition long since switched off, officers had to rely on highly unofficial expertise to get the battered vehicle back on the road and return with the tattooed suspect in an orange jumpsuit.
“I have to tell you, my coping skills at that moment were not on par with dealing with THAT situation,” Olive said.
It was recovered by police in Aberdeen almost four months later and Olive was filmed from behind as police called on the suspected thief himself to help restart the engine.
Olive Teague, 26, had invested her savings in the 1996 Ford RV that doubled as her home when it was stolen from a Seattle street after just two weeks
Drugs, weapons, stolen jewelry, bicycle parts, hunting weapons and even a raccoon trap were recovered from the badly damaged vehicle after squatters spent the winter indoors
Olive had invested her savings in the RV that doubled as a home and storage space for the costumes and diving equipment for her business, the Seattle Mermaid School.
She only had the vehicle for two weeks before it was liquidated on December 19, and friends started a GoFundMe appeal to help her.
Three months later she arrived in Aberdeen with a friend to find that squatters had lived there all winter, traveling more than 1,300 miles and causing extensive damage.
But a routine recovery attracted more than 12 million views on TikTok after Olive pulled out her phone to capture the unusual twist.
As she examined the debris in the back of the vehicle, her friend and a police officer struggled with the ignition in an attempt to start the engine.
“I finally heard the officer say, ‘You know what? I don’t want us to do any more damage to the ignition by tampering with it,'” she told supporters on her objection page.
“I know someone at the station who absolutely knows how to do this.” And so he left.
‘I didn’t think of this during my thorough cleaning of the bedroom area. He’s going to get another officer… right?
“That’s what I thought, until I turned around and found not another police officer teaching my friend how to switch the ignition, but the actual man who stole my car.”
Olive invested her savings in the camper, which also served as a home and storage space for her business
Olive’s camper was taken with all her belongings for the mermaid school she runs
“The responding officer went to the county jail and picked up the literal guy they booked for selling my rig and took him on a little side trip to teach us how to start my RV.”
On TikTok, the suspected criminal can be seen patiently teaching her friend how to revive the engine, while occasionally stealing glances at Olive who is filming from the back.
The job was done, the suspect was sent back to prison and Olive could start making the camper habitable again.
“During the cleanup process we discovered drugs, guns, stolen jewelry, bicycle parts, hunting weapons, a raccoon trap and many other unmentionable items,” she wrote.
‘There is fire damage to the inside of the camper. The walls, my brand new mattress and the carpets have deep burn marks. About an hour and a half into the cleanup project, I found a whole cat.
‘I’m on day six of wet vacuuming my carpets and the water is still black, but the smell is receding and my carpets are blue again.
“I have a lot of hard work ahead of me to continue to reclaim my space, but that’s where I’ve been this past week.
“And I can’t tell you how much peace my heart has had compared to when my camper was gone. I’d rather have my gear, cursed or not.”
Commenters on TikTok praised the resourceful officers and were impressed by the suspect’s detailed tutorial.
“It probably felt really good for him to be helpful and share some niche knowledge,” one wrote.
“The fact that you both looked at each other and smiled when the light came on,” another added.
During the cleaning process, Olive discovered drugs, guns, stolen jewelry, bicycle parts, hunting weapons – and a cat
Olive described the experience as “surreal, to say the least.”
“There was a potentially dangerous, indicted criminal waving a screwdriver inches from my friend’s face,” she wrote.
“And he was so helpful in teaching?”
‘The only thing I could think of at that moment was filming for prosperity. And, you know, just in case we needed the evidence.”